It’s not often that a magazine with a photo of the Jonas Brothers on the cover roils one of the most successful firms on Wall Street.

But that’s exactly what’s happening at Goldman Sachs, where sources said senior executives are miffed at a 12-page story in the current issue of Rolling Stone that advances a long-circulated theory that the gold-plated firm has rigged the game on Wall Street.

Written by contributing editor Matt Taibbi, the article echoes a string of conspiracies centered on Goldman’s uncanny ability to make reams of cash in both good times and bad, highlighting its role in several past bubbles, including last year’s run-up in oil prices, the tech-sector boom and bust at the turn of the century and the current mortgage crisis.

“The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,” Taibbi wrote.

One official at the firm described the piece to The Post as “vaguely entertaining,” but purely fictional.

The bank’s spokesman, Lucas Van Praag, was more pointed: “[Taibbi’s] story is an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Notable ones missing are Goldman Sachs as the third shooter [in John F. Kennedy’s assassination] and faking the first lunar landing.”

“We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good,” Van Praag added.

The issue has devolved into a bitter war of words between Goldman and Taibbi, who yesterday on his blog took another couple of shots at the venerable bank.

“Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the US Treasury, the [New York Stock Exchange], the World Bank and numerous other important posts,” he said. “They have the ear of the president if they want it.”

To be sure, Goldman alumni abound throughout business and politics, including former Treasury secretaries Hank Paulson and Robert Rubin, current New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine and ex-Merrill Lynch boss John Thain. Known to recruit top-tier Ivy League MBA grads, Goldman is viewed by outsiders as a clubby institution that pays its employees extremely well and has deep-running ties on both Wall Street and in Washington.

And the fact that Goldman has dodged bullets while firms like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns — which modeled themselves after Goldman — have cratered, has only added to the lore of the bank as the bad guy.

Goldman reportedly made a record $11 billion in profits betting that securities tied to residential mortgages would plummet in value. Then, on the other side of the trade, the investment bank run by Lloyd Blankfein made boatloads of cash packaging and selling those same mortgages through complicated bonds during the subprime crisis.

Such an ability to be on both sides of the equation with equal success and the view that it often operates under glaring conflicts of interest has garnered more animosity and envy.

However, Goldman is not alone in working both sides of a trade.

Indeed, sources point out that Lehman and Bear both used the same strategy, despite the ultimate collapse, and others continue to do so today, including Morgan Stanley. mark.decambre@nypost.com